A Guatemalan Dessert with Unusual Name

Chancletas. That is the unusual name.

Chancleta is a rough, slang-like word for something like a slipper, or some type of slip on shoe. I guess I can sort-of see the chancleta reference. Last evening, as we ate this dessert after a lovely dinner of Hilachas, looking at the now-empty shell, there is a vague resemblance to a slipper. 

Chancleta, served

Whatever the word Chancleta means, that is what they called this particular dessert in Guatemala, made with a vegetable called Chayote. Guatemalans seem to make desserts out of the most unlikely things. Squash becomes candy, yuca root becomes a torta-type cake, and these Chayote Squash, called "Güisquil" (wee-SKEEL) in Guatemala, become funny-looking slipper-like desserts. 

Chayote Squash growing on a structure.

What is a Chayote?

Chayote Squash are known by many, many other names around the world, some of which are Mirliton, Vegetable Pear and Christophene. The vegetable, Sechium edule, is an edible, vining plant in the gourd family, along with cucumbers, melons and squash. They are extremely easy to grow - just stick one in the soil with the puckered end upwards. As with most vines, it will grow and positively take over an area. With these smaller squash, it is best (and easiest to harvest) if the vine has some sort of structure it can climb. The ripe squash will hang below and are easily seen and harvested. 

When I lived in Guatemala, I grew these Chayote Squash in our backyard, just as shown above. When you suddenly have 15 or 20 of them all ripe and waiting for use, you grasp at any recipe available. I made Chancletas relatively often! Obviously, these squash can be used in many other ways. They are not terribly flavorful, so using them in a dish with other flavors as the main point is great. I have often successfully made a "scalloped potatoes" recipe, using chayote squash instead of the potatoes, for a remarkably good and far less starchy meal or side dish.

How to Work with Chayote

Lower photo: slightly defined area to cut

There are a few small things to know about chayotes, when working with them. When peeling them, the inner flesh is a little sticky feeling. No big deal, but it is normal. Just an FYI. To take out the seed and the surrounding fibrous mass, lay the vegetable on one side and slice the vegetable across through its width, so the knife passes through and across the puckered end. This is shown in the photo sequence below. That picture shows an already cooked chayote, but the method is the same if it is raw. The reason for this is that the seed is wide and flat, and it is surrounded by a fibrous mass akin to one of those loofah sponges, and totally inedible. You could try, but you would be chewing all day 😂

If you have never worked with a chayote before, it is good to know where, exactly, this fibrous mass is, in order to cut it out effectively. Of course, you will find out soon enough. The knife won't pass through that mass easily, either! In the photo here above, first is a photo of what these vegetables look like. They come in completely smooth skins and some are so spiny they are hard to touch. Most sold in the US are totally smooth. The ones I grew in Guatemala had a few little spines on them. The lower picture in the photo shows a chayote cut open. I drew a faint line that shows where to insert the knife when cutting out the fibrous part. Insert the knife at a flat angle and cut out a very flat cone and discard. At any point, if the knife will not penetrate, this means you've hit the fibrous part; just re-angle the knife until it goes around easily. 

This may all sound difficult. It is not. I just want anyone daring enough to try something new, to know just exactly what to expect. This always helps me want to try something new.

Now that I have it prepped....

At this point, you have the vegetable ready to use. These are not starchy squash. They have a fair amount of water to them. They will cook easily. Add them to any dish where other vegetables are used, such as a stew or a vegetable soup. It can be sliced or cubed, as desired. They are one possible addition to the Hilachas recipe I posted a couple of days ago. To cook a whole chayote, first the timing will depend on the size of the vegetable, but the ones I used for making the Chancletas cooked through in about 45 minutes or so. If cooking them whole to make Chancletas, when piercing to test for doneness, try to keep to the edge where the vegetable will eventually be cut. You will be reusing the skin. Holes all over this skin are not conducive to keeping the skin whole to later fill. Now you are ready to make Chancletas.

Slice the squash through the width; inside; take out seed and fibrous mass, the inner meat; ready to bake

The sequence of photos here above show the prep for making Chancletas. 

1. The vegetables are cooked whole, covered in boiling water. Once cool enough to handle, they are sliced as shown, across the widest part of the vegetable. 
2. The whitish area surrounding the seed is a good indicator of where to insert the knife to remove the fibrous part surrounding the seed. 
3. The third photo shows the seed and fibrous mass removed. 
4. The next step shows the flesh scooped out of the shell. Keep in mind, these "shells are very soft and tear easily, even more than a cooked potato skin. Think of making Twice Baked Potatoes. You will need to leave just enough of the skin to give it a little structure. Not so much that you have nothing to use for the filling.
5. The fifth photo shows the skins filled with the mixture, which is explained in the recipe below:

Chancletas

Makes 3 or 4 servings

Chancletas

My chayotes had excessive amounts of water to them. They kept leaking out more and more, to the point where I only had enough filling to fill 3 of the 4 chayote shells. This had never happened before, so much of this recipe will depend on how much of the flesh is scooped out to work with. Amounts may need to be adjusted.

2 Chayote squash
3/4 cup Champurrada crumbs or crumbs made from plain wafer cookies
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons raisins
1 tablespoon butter
pinch salt

Set the chayotes in a pot and cover them with water. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until they are cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour. Drain and set the chayotes aside until cool enough to handle.

Following the photos in the sequence above, first slice the chayotes in half as shown. With a small paring knife cut out a wide flat cone around the seed and fibrous mass. Discard. With a spoon, carefully scoop out the flesh, leaving only enough to give a little structure to the skins, which will be used to hold the filling. Puree the scooped out flesh and then add in the remaining ingredients. Once combined, fill the reserved skins with the mixture, set them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, until set and golden. Serve warm.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Greek Christmas Bread and Guatemalan Champurradas

Champurradas and Coffee!

I have been absent from this blog because I have been busy with various projects. One was even Christmas related! For starters, one of my daughters was turning 40 a few days back, and when my oldest turned 40, I had created a cookbook-memoir for her, of all the recipes I had amassed when in Guatemala. Mind you, many of the recipes I made while down there were made by watching what someone else did, and copying the method down while I watched, or approximating what I ate and tasted somewhere. 

While living in Guatemala, we had little money, and one little Instamatic camera. More often than not, the flash would not work, so it was safest to take photos outside, but even then, most photo taking was of one of the children, or my husband (at the time) or myself, for a holiday or birthday. Looking back, I so wish I could have had the camera I own today, and the ability to take all those missed photo ops all over again. So when it came to making that cookbook-memoir, I had little, if any, photos of the foods, much less of the beautiful scenery. I searched online for photos that looked similar enough to what I had made and used them in that book. It was only a memoir for my daughter, after all. She knows what the foods and the country look like, as she spent time there as a young adult, but it's nicer to have photos. 

So when Jenny turned 40 a few days ago, I asked if she was interested in a remake of that same book. It was an emphatic YES! At this point in time, I have made many of the recipes and photographed them for my website or this blog, so I can go back and replace some of the photos in that book with my own. Still, there are a lot of recipes I keep meaning to make and get photos of, but just never seem to make the time. Two of these are Champurradas and Guatemalan Empanadas de Manjar. I had been working on the remake of the cookbook-memoir, and when I got to the page for Champurradas, I thought, "Enough! Just DO it!" So I went downstairs and made them.

I had never made Champurradas before. I had a recipe I copied from somewhere, but Guatemalan recipes are notorious for lack of proper measurements and sometimes of any measurements at all. I had cobbled together what I intended to try, after noting the differences in a few different recipes. One thing that my recipe called for was Masa Harina, the corn flour used for making tortillas. While I love the flavor of Masa Harina in things, my "taste memory" of Champurradas did not recall that particular flavor. 

So What are Champurradas?

Champurradas, ready to bake

In Guatemala, as well as Mexico and other countries of Latin America, there are large varieties of what are called "Pan Dulce" or Sweet Breads. While these breads are not really what one might term "sweet", they are richer than French bread or sandwich bread. They are made in all sorts of flavors and styles. Little round ones with a sugary topping are "molletes", little anise studded ones called "shecas/xecas/cemitas", long, leaf-shaped, sugar-coated "hojaldras", flat, cookie-like "champurradas" and so many many more (see the two photos above, that I used and had credited from a website that no longer appears to be there, as of November 2019). So, a champurrada is the closest to a cookie that I can describe of the breads in Guatemala. Flat and crisp, but very large at about 5 or more inches across. Not really too sweet, they were marvelous dunked in a nice cup of coffee. As it happens, they turned out really well, and I am enjoying them, one at a time, with coffee. This is what I did to make them:

Champurradas

Makes 12 to 14, depending on thickness and diameter
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have two large cookie sheets ready.

Cream together the lard (or shortening) with the sugar and vanilla. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder and add them to the creamed mixture until it looks like crumbs, much as for pie dough. Whisk the eggs in a measuring cup and if the amount does not make 5.5 ounces in total, add some water to make that amount. Stir the egg mixture into the bowl and bring the mixture together quickly with a fork or fingers, without over working the dough. Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to less than ¼-inch thick and cut rounds that are about 5-inches in diameter. I used a small dessert bowl with smooth rim. Alternately, divide the dough into 12 to 14 equally sized balls and flatten them to less than ¼-inch, either between waxed paper sheets, or in a tortilla press.

Set these rounds onto the cookie sheets. They will not grow appreciably, so they can be set as close as 1-inch apart. If there is a little egg left in the container where they were whisked, stir in a tablespoon of water to the container and use a pastry brush to brush this over tops of the cookies. Sprinkle lightly with the sesame seeds if desired. Bake them for 25 minutes, or until nicely golden.

Christopsomos, Greek Christmas Bread

Large "X" on top of the bread

The other project I was working on was deciding what to give as gifts to the family here for Christmas this year. To date, I have given plates of cookies, and while well received, they are a chore at times, making so very many to give away. I thought of making some kind of bread. Turning once more to The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart, I leafed through, checking what he had of interest in Christmas Breads. There are three in this book: German Stollen, Italian Panettone and Greek Christopsomos. I have made my version of Stollen many, many times, bastardizing the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, from circa 1966. Reinhart's version of the Stollen will likely be most exceptional. Every single bread I have made from that book has been exceptional. I wanted to try something different. I got caught up reading about "Greek Celebration Breads" and got hooked on the idea of the Christopsomos. 
  
This Greek bread is made with a Byzantine cross on top, made with curlicues at the ends. The cross is also an "X" shape, which is the first letter of Khrestos (Christ) in the Greek alphabet. The name "Christopsomos" translates to "Christ's Bread".

The only difficulty was that Reinhart does not specify how large a loaf the recipes makes. Reading the ingredients, I was unsure if one recipe would make two normal sized loaves or not. To be safe, I experimented first making 1½ times the recipe. As it turned out, the bread was amazingly good, and the recipe would be perfect as gifts. But.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if maybe the Panettone would be better as a gift? We live in South Dakota. There are so many people who find what I feel are mundane ingredients to be totally "out there", strange and exotic. I used Kalamata dried figs and dried cherries, soaked in Gran Marnier overnight. I used Mahlab, a very Mediterranean spice, the tiny kernels of the pit of the St. Lucie Cherry. Maybe I was a little out of some people's comfort zones?

Christopsomos, sliced

So, while I have not yet made the Panettone, I expect it to come out amazingly good as with all the breads from this book. Once I make a batch I will post photos here. For now though, I would remake the Christopsomos bread any time. It made some amazing French Toast this morning, too!

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.